My Book Report

Well, for a change of pace from the kids (and before the sure-to-be-cute pics of Ben in his new glasses are posted) I thought I would post about some books that I recently read and enjoyed. If you're looking for something to read, I would have to recommend the following:


Barbary Pirate: The Life and Crimes of John Ward
by Greg Bak

If you want thrilling passion, swashbuckling shenanigans, and exposed bosoms, don't look here!

If you do want a captivating read about a man who may (or may not) have been misunderstood, and a look at Government corruption and hypocrisy, this book is for you.

Please note, I am not biased in any way.

---

Hey Nostradamus!
by Douglas Coupland

I remember trying to read Generation X a while back, and not enjoying it. I was not sure what I would think of this book, but I really enjoyed it.

This book has four short stories, told in a rough chronological order, about four people affected by a high-school massacre - similar to Columbine. I found it an easy and quick read.

---

The Time Traveler's Wife
by Audrey Niffenegger

This was an EXCELLENT book (in my opinion) which was recommended to me by my school librarian. (Go librarians)!

It is mostly a love story, with the unfortunate twists that the main character takes uncontrolled (and temporary) leaps through time backwards (or forwards) to places that he's already been (or will be). You need to read it to see what I mean.

---

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear
by Walter Moers

This is a very thick (physically thick) book that I really enjoyed. Really, it seems that the authors vivid (and 'enhanced'?) imagination has been vomited onto pages and published.

This is a fun, light (not physically light) read.

(Sorry for the sad picture of this cover. That is a Bluebear in a boat with 3 mini-pirates.)

So there! Know any good books I should be reading? Let me know...IN THE COMMENTS!

Gordo

Check-ups...Check!

Ben and Ella had check-ups with our pediatrician today. Ben weighs 32 pounds (average) and is 36 inches tall (slightly below average). Our doc said he's the picture of health! He asked us about the crossing left eye, and we told him we were seeing an opthalmologist later today, so that's taken care of!

Turns out, Ben needs glasses. We sort of thought that he just had a lazy eye, but it turns out he's very farsighted in both eyes (he needs a +4.5 prescription in both). It looks like he'll need to wear glasses for several years. We've ordered him some preppy little square-framed blue glasses - I know he'll look cute with them on. I always think that kids with glasses are cute, but now I have to try to keep them on his face, and keep them from breaking!

And Ella is also a healthy little kid - she's 21 pounds (70th percentile) and 29 1/2 inches tall (90th percentile). No shots today!

Proof that they're related...

Funny, hey?

And some more pictures, just for kicks:

Mr. No-Naps decided to draw on himself, the carpet, his dresser and another book with a dry erase marker. Not what I expected to see when I went into his room...




















Playing the Elmo video game Grandma Susan gave him for his birthday:














Now that it's nicer, he can play in the backyard! (Any ideas as to what we can do, besides shovel?)














Our little darlin':

The birthday party...

We had Ben's birthday party on Saturday (yesterday) and, by all accounts, it was a success! Here are some random pictures:

The Diego Rain Forest Cake:


Baby Jaguar cupcakes:


Ben definitely approved!


The kids enjoying said cake and cupcakes:


Opening the loot!



I think that Ben had a really great time. The kids played downstairs (only a few minor scuffles!) and therefore the upstairs stayed fairly clean. Except for the wrapping paper fight that ensued while Ben was opening his presents (thanks for that, Uncle Chris!).

I can't believe he's 3 in just a couple of hours...

For those that are interested in Ella's sleeping progress, she slept right through the night on Friday, from about 10pm to 8am. Last night, she woke up at 5am-ish, and cried for about 25 minutes in total. I went in after 20 minutes, rubbed her back a bit, and left. Gord said she cried for about 3 more seconds and then she quieted and went back to sleep until after 9am. (I, of course, sought refuge in the bathroom.) We'll see how tonight goes!

Update to training:

It seems to be working. Ella was up only once last night, at 2:28am. I went in at 2:38am for a couple of minutes, then left. I hid in the bathroom (playing solitaire this time) and at 2:57am when I came out, she was quiet. She's just waking up now, at 8:30am.

However, now that I've blogged about it, the "curse" will take effect and she won't sleep through the night until she's 15.

Let the training begin!

Sleep training, that is. Last night, Ella went to bed at 8:30pm. At 10:00pm, she was up crying. So I went in and laid her back down. She wailed and sat back up. Now, imagine doing this about 30 times. Finally, I left her room. She cried and cried some more. An hour passes and she is settled down, back to sleep. So I go to bed. At 2:08am, she wakes up again. I go in and the process begins again, but I figure out (after 20 minutes or so) that I upset her more by doing this than I would if I just left her alone. So I leave and go to the bathroom, where I can turn on the fan and play some Kakuro in peace and quiet. I come out, and she's quiet. It's 2:42am. At 3:00am, she starts back up again, and who comes wandering into our room? Ben. So I take him back to his room and lay down with him, while Ella cries. She finally stopped around 3:20am. And she didn't wake up until 8:30am.

I wasn't quite prepared emotionally for this. Gord was reassuring me last night that it worked for Ben, and it's time for Ella to sleep through the night, and that I was doing the right thing. It's just that I started last night 'cause it had only been an hour and a half since she was last fed, and I didn't want to just stick the boob in her mouth to put her back to sleep. And then it just snowballed into letting her cry it out. Oh well, it's not like I'm weaning her. She still gets lots of boob time during the day.

I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quickly the first night she, and I, get a full night's sleep.

And now, for some random cuteness from the Sheppard kids!

She loves mealtimes!


And Cheerios...


Taking his turtle for a walk (he made the turtle at our playgroup):


Mmmmmm...chocolate...(she got a hold of Ben's ice cream sundae spoon when we weren't looking!)


Sleepy baby.


A nap is a nap.


When asked what the label said, Ben's response was, "B-E-N 5".


We are really working on the letters with Ben right now. He and I were doing a Dora puzzle yesterday and I asked him what the letters were. "D-O-R-A" he said. "And what does that spell?" I asked. He said, "D-O-R-A spells Dora and Boots!"

That's my girl!

Ella has been obsessed today with my earrings. My diamond earrings. What good taste she has!

What the...?

So Ella doesn't like fruit (she's slowly learning to like it), but avocado? The baby bird loves it. I give up trying to figure her out.

The order of things...

After letting Ben play with the beads we got Ruby & Fiona for Christmas, I knew I had to track some more down. And I did. Ben loves them! He likes to pile them all up, and then make a snake out of them. And do you want to know what? His snake is ALWAYS in the same order - all 4 yellow beads, then all 4 red, then all 4 green and then all 4 blue. If you try to mess with "the order", he gets uptight and wrecks whatever you've done to do it his way. Sometimes, he'll then make them into a necklace for Mommy to wear. But it usually breaks and then he rebuilds his snake - yellow, red, green, blue.

I really should have got 2 sets, 'cause he won't share with Ella. Poor girl.

Today, I was in the car doing some errands and listening to Gord's Arrogant Worms CD (it was the one after the Barenaked Ladies BLAM CD). A song came on with a verse that pretty much sums up the way I feel about Ella at 5:00 am every morning. Here are the lyrics to the verse:

As a small baby Each time I cried
My mother came to me
To ease my worries and calm my fears
with a sweet melody

I remember hearing The sound of her voice
As I screamed in my drool and my pee
She'd slug back some whisky
light up a smoke
and gently sing to me

Go to sleep little leach
You sucked mama dry
Made her more crazy
With every cry
Why weren't we more careful
that night on the beach
Go to sleep
Go to sleep little leach 

I love her to pieces, but having to get up 2 to 3 times a night can be a little much. Anyways, I had a good chuckle when I was listening to the song.

Ho hum.

So Ella's favorite place these days is the bathroom. The reason? She can play peekaboo with herself in the mirrored shower door! Gord has seen it several times, but I haven't yet. Given that it's the best game in the whole world to her, I can believe it without seeing it.

I've also started to do sign language with Ella, like we did for Ben. For instance, when I'm feeding her solids, and she starts to get full, I'll ask her if she's "all done?" And she laughs. Methinks that's not a good sign! (ha ha, no pun intended.)

I bought Ben little Lightning McQueen and Mater cars the other day. They, apparently, are now members of the family and therefore need to be with us wherever we go. The basement. The grocery store. Swimming lessons. And it's a catastrophe when one is missing. "Mommy, mommy! Where is Lightning The Queen? Where is he? I don't know where he is!"

It's a real snotfest over here right now. Ella and Ben both have stuffy noses with lots of gross greenish-yellowish boogers. Ben is constantly saying, "Mommy! I need you to wipe my snot!" What a guy. Ella HATES having her nose wiped. She screams bloody murder when she even sees a kleenex.

So I am a diaper-changing, nose-wiping, potty chaperoning, juice-and-snack fetcher these days. But really, isn't that always the case?

Here and there.

What's been happening with us, you ask? Not much. There ya go. That is our reality.

We're busy most days of the week with some sort of activity. Ella and I do Mommy & Me Aquacise on Monday mornings. Ben's playgroup meets Tuesday mornings. Wednesdays...free. Thursdays, I take Ben to his swimming lessons (which he loves, by the way). And Fridays we still have GymKyds. In all his activities, he's like the oldest kid there. Oh well, he still has a lot of fun and burns off energy!

What can I say about Ella? Her sleeping sucks. I am at a total loss. She prefers to sleep in and stay up late. This week, I'm trying to wake her up at 8 a.m.-ish and put her down around 9 p.m. However, she keeps waking up at 10 or 10:30 p.m. And last night? She woke up at 2:30 a.m. and did not settle back down until 4:30. Grrrrr. So between Ella, Ben (who wakes up to go pee or something) and Charlie, I'm usually up 5 times a night. Very interrupted sleep. Did I spell that right? Forgive me, I'm exhausted. Any advice? Books to read? Should I "ferberize"? Aaahhhhhhhhhhh!

Ella loves her cereal, loves her veggies, but hates all fruit except for bananas. What that's all about, I have no idea. I guess Ella is just a puzzle wrapped in an enigma! She also loves her Cheerios and Baby MumMums. I've also started giving her small cooked chunks of yams and carrots to eat. As you'll see below, she loves to get all messy!

Ben loves to play with beads, play-doh and stickers. I've started pumping him up about his birthday today...that may backfire, but oh well! He's having a Go Diego Go! birthday, which he will absolutely LOVE!

Here are some assorted pics:

Me and my girl:


Superman lovin' on his little sister:


The little chef in his kitchen:


The little chef's creations:


Say cheese! And modeling one of her new hair clips...


Mmmmmmm...yams....and the other hair clip...


Determination...

Kids can sleep anywhere!

It's been a really long time since Ben just went to sleep wherever he was sitting, but last night was the best one yet.


At 6:30, he decided he was done his dinner, turned, put his head on my lap, and went to sleep. Just like that.

That'll teach him for refusing a nap. He's been refusing a lot lately. Grrrrrr...

Potty training is going well - he will now tell us when he has to go. He still has the odd accident in a day, but he's getting it! Yay! I wasn't sure this day would ever come. Now my friend Michelle won't disown me!

What else about Ben? (I feel like I haven't posted about him lately.) He loves Cars (the movie) and we have to watch it at least once a day. Ben usually asks to watch it more, but it's so long (almost 2 hours) that I talk him out of it. He also loves the "building toys" that Santa brought him (the link takes you to the one he actually got, and he also got the Black Dragon) and the Word Whammer from Grandma Joan and Grandpa Bill (he can spell C-A-T no problem and loves to make up lots of words too).

And Ella? Well, I don't want to talk about her - I'm still trying to forgive her for not letting me go to bed at 11:00 last night, but instead keeping me up until 3:00. If she wasn't so cute, I'd hold a grudge.

Chomp chomp!

Her shirt may say, "Who you calling shrimp?", but it should say, "Who you calling a piranha?" 'cause, man, can she bite!

Hear ye, hear ye: the Sheppard family members shall forthwith be known as:

Milord Sir Lord Gordon the Convincing of Bartonhurst in the River

Her Most Serene Highness Lady Carrie the Coherent of Piddletrenthide on the Carpet

The Very Reverend Benjamin the Charming of Yetts O'Muckhart

Her Noble Excellency Isabella the Eerie of Witchampton Under Buzzard

Good stuff.

http://www.masquerademaskarts.com/memes/peculiartitle.php

Go check it out yourself.

Latest happenings...

My parents have both asked me to spill on what the heck it was that Gord tried to draw. I've told them, so I might as well tell all of ya - it was SUPPOSED to be a frog, but ended up kinda like a monkey. So we dubbed it a "mog" or a "fronkey". I'll see what Gord wants to do about declaring a "winner"... But I want to commend everyone on their guesses and their limericks! Excellent work, faithful readers!

Worst Christmas ever - well, my Grandma died on Christmas Day, later in the evening. You know, I think that she's in a better place now, free of pain and suffering. That's what is important.

On the eve of her funeral, Ben got the flu. Threw up for about a day and a half. He felt pretty much back to normal on Saturday, but then Gord ended up hurling his cookies before the day was over.

Ella and I have avoided the flu (thank goodness...knock on wood now please!). Gord is now complaining of nasal and general head congestion. He always seems to get sick the week before school; really, it's uncanny.

Hmmmm...what else can I tell you? Ben has been coming out with some real good ones as we put him to bed at night. Like, "Don't EVER sleep on a hammer, Daddy!", and "Don't forget your lunch!" It's like he's in some really weird dream before we even leave the room.

We are in the throes of potty-training. I've been hesitant to post on this, for fear of jinxing his progress. He's caught on really quickly, but we still have to remind him every 30 mins to an hour to go to the potty. We chose the "bribe with candy" approach, and it worked pretty well! That and Diego underwear and a Diego potty seat, and we were set to go! We still put a Pull-up on him at naptime and at nighttime, but hopefully he'll learn that control pretty soon. He's such a heavy sleeper though...

Ella is such a happy little girl. She crawls everywhere in the house now, following our voices if we leave the room. She LOVES the dog dishes, just like Ben did. What is with that? Why must she make a beeline for them as soon as she crawls into the kitchen? Ella also pulls up on everything that she can, and will even let go with one of her hands now. And she'll also move between two objects (i.e. couch and stool) provided that they're really close together - if she just has to move her hands and swivel on her feet. Our baby is growing sooooo fast...

Ella loves her cereal, likes her veggies, and I'm just starting her on fruit. I'm taking it really slow - partly because I'm just lazy. She wasn't too sure on apples, but pears seemed to be a hit last night. And I think she'll like bananas too. I'm bad...I haven't waited 3-5 days since pears to start the new fruit (bananas)...bad mommy!

That's all. Gonna go and watch the rest of CSI, finish my glass of wine and my bowl of Fruit Loops. Mmmmmmm...actually, not really...Fruit Loops mushy in milk? Not as tasty as I remembered...

A Little Game...

I'll let Carrie post about the worst Christmas ever, but I have a couple of items to tickle your minds...

FIRST: Tonight, Ben asked me to draw him a certain animal. This is what I came up with:

What is this poor animal? There is a fabulous prize to the person or team who can correctly guess A) What this animal was supposed to be and B) the name Carrie and I finally decided on for this animal (hint: it is two normal animal names schmucked together).


SECOND: I tried to tell Carrie an old dirty limerick tonight, but couldn't remember anything but the first two lines. SO...I looked it up online and here's what I found (cleaned up for all audiences):

There once was a man from Nantucket
Whose **** was so long he could **** it
He said with a grin
As he wiped off his chin
If my ear were a **** I could **** it!

Another super-fabulous prize goes to the person who can fill in the blanks with CLEAN words and still make a hilarious, knee-slapping limerick. (If you HAVE to change some of the other words for pacing or whatever go ahead, but your final limerick better be EXTRA hilarious).

All entrants should LEAVE A COMMENT. Even if you don't enter you should LEAVE A COMMENT. LEAVING A COMMENT makes you feel good. People who suffer from excesses of cool are found to LEAVE LOTS OF COMMENTS. LEAVING A COMMENT is the dominion of the wealthy, smart and beautiful. If you are NOT any of those aforementioned things I guess you should NOT LEAVE A COMMENT.

Till next time...

Gordo

p.s. LEAVE A COMMENT

p.p.s. To LEAVE A COMMENT, just click on the little link below this line that in all likelihood says '0 comments'.

p.p.p.s. That is a zero in '0 comments', and not the letter o. If you do LEAVE A COMMENT you will have the excitement of seeing your COMMENT automatically increment that number by 1.

p.p.p.p.s. See what happens to the number if you LEAVE 3 COMMENTS!

Elveire Schoonbaert 1926 - 2006

To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under the sun.
A time to be born and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
a time to kill and a time to heal ...
a time to weep and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn and a time to dance ...
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to lose and a time to seek;
a time to rend and a time to sew;
a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.

ecclesiastes 3:1-8

You will be missed.

Merry Christmas!

Yay! It's Christmas Day! What a long day it proves to be with kids...but also so so so much fun! We traveled out to Morden yesterday to spend Christmas at my parents' house. Ben loves to manhandle every single decoration within arm's reach, so we are constantly following him around trying to redirect his attention. Ella, now that she is mobile, is also very interested in what's on the end table or the "snow" around Grandma's snowmen.

We were up at about 8:30 this morning - not too early! It took until almost 1:00 to open all the presents. But Ben had to check out this and that, and play with something else that was just opened. He, by far, had the most presents under the tree, and was spoiled rotten (Mommy and Daddy are the guilty ones). He got some building toys (Lego), which he asked Santa for, and Ella got the train that Ben asked Santa for, on behalf of her. Santa also left the kids a Tickle Me Elmo, which is providing us adults with loads of entertainment. Here you can see him taking advantage of a Regular Elmo:



Ben also scored some puzzles, a cool zebra flashlight, safari hat and bug collector (thanks K & G & R & F), some books, train stuff, clothes, a movie, paints, markers, finger puppets, the world on a string, etc. Ella got a doll, a glo-worm, lots of clothes, bath toys, the world on a string, etc. Here they are playing with Ella's train:



The kids modeling Ben's new Santa hat a few days ago:




It was a wonderful day today - nice and relaxed. No place to go, just here to enjoy watching the kids at such a fun time of year for them.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2007! We love ya...

Pics of our little sweetie!

Just posing for the camera...


Standing in her crib:


Her bottom teeth (click on the picture to enlarge):


Another shot of the pearly whites:



Like I posted previously, she has one on the top, and the top right incisor is cutting through, as we speak. She was so whiny tonight, and would not let me put my finger in her mouth to check things out. Once, when I forced my finger in there, I thought I felt something sharp beside the other tooth, but I could be mistaken.

Flin-STONE!!!!

Well, after a LONG period of time the basement is finally close to done. I think (or at least I hope) that the fireplace is the focal point of the basement. (If it's not, I don't want to hear it! :) ). Here is a pic:

It might be hard to tell, but that is slate tiles with built in (drywall) shelves on the sides. The shelves will eventually hold books and logs in the bottom (larger) shelves.

Now we just need to actually light a fire (# of fires last year - 0) and see if the fireplace still works!


Well enough of that boring stuff - bring on pics of the kids!

Our little models:



In honour of the new Rocky movie coming out:

Adriaaaannnnnnnn!

(And yes, she's mobile! The big secret is that she can already stand - pics of that to come!)

Thanks for tuning in, dudes and dudettes!

P.S. Welcome back to the web Dad and Wendy!!!

Holy teeth Batman!

#3 is here. It's the one beside the top incisor (?) on her right hand side. The top right incisor is just below the gums too. My guess is we'll see that one tomorrow!

This explains why she was up SCREAMING at 1:30 am last night...

And they just keep comin'...

* edited to add: Did I mention that she's also pulling up to standing on ANYTHING 6 inches off the ground or higher? Sheesh.

Ella was kinda grumpy yesterday, and I was commenting on that fact to my mom on the phone last night. She asked if another tooth had come in, and I said, "Hmmm. I don't know..." Sure enough, her other bottom front tooth is here!

We'll try getting a picture in a few days, when they're both a bit more out of her gums.

Introducing the newest member of the family...

Ella's first tooth! I could post random Ella pictures, like Ruby's mommy did (as if there's a tooth in those pictures K!). But I won't, and can't because I left the camera at my parents' house on Wednesday.

Potty update: Ben has cooled on this front. We tried again a couple nights later, but we've gotten lazy. I would prefer to wait until Gord is off for Christmas holidays so that we can double-team him.

I've gotta get crackin' on housework and laundry...but I don't want to. Anybody wanna buy me a maid for Christmas?

What a weekend!

Ella started crawling yesterday! She has been pulling up on all fours for a couple of weeks now, and early last week, she started lifting up one hand and moving it forward. Then on Thursday, she would do both hands (no, not at the same time!), and finally on Friday, she'd do a third. Yesterday, she really started to take off! She now goes about halfway down the living room. Wow, look out world!

And then today, Ben went pee in the potty! This was then followed by two accidents, but it's definitely a step in the right direction! Whoo-hoo! We made a big huge deal about it, and he thought that it was pretty cool. We'll see how things progress this week. We thought that we'd tackle this potty-training thing at Christmas time when we'd both here, but maybe it'll start now...

Other than that, I've got nothing to report. Can't wait for Christmas...

I have a new addiction...

Starbucks Peppermint Mocha.

Yum.

My friend Marla nailed it - it's like Christmas in a cup.

It's kinda funny when...

Ella spits up a bit in her mouth, and then makes this hilarious sour face when she tastes it.

And you know what? Mommy makes the same face when it ends up in her mouth.

'Nuff said.

What was he thinking? (And some more stuff...)

This is what we found when we went in to check on Ben tonight. If you have any ideas, let us know! We're at a loss...




















Otherwise, things are just fine here in the Sheppard house! Ella is a total joy - she is pretty much always happy, unless she is really tired or really hungry. Ben is a crazy, silly little boy and keeps me hopping!

Mmmmmmm...Robeez...














She'll be crawlin' any day now!














Just a funny picture from last weekend...note Grandma Joan's mouth too!














Here's Ben watching "Dumbo"...














Ella was just as engrossed as her big brother!